Last weekend I finally found time away from my busy weekend schedule of partying/ mountain biking/ beach volleyball/ track time/ car events/ Vegas/ Havasu/ anything fun, to put my parts back on and re-flash my old ECU map. Gaining back 50whp after driving stock puts a nice smile back on my face, but I know it won't last long.
Just like any other car junkie, I know I'll never be satisfied with the current power my car puts out. Even though I've gotten some nice gains, it's nothing to write home about. As soon as I drove away from XS, something came over me and I instantly got the push to finally order my front mount intercooler from XS Engineering. (The fact that I just got a nice, fat royalty check from a commercial helped, too).
Now I know what you're thinking, I just got popped by the state ref, didn't I learn my lesson? Of course I did, that's why I'm having the intercooler piping powder coated black and the core painted black as well. I'm also either putting on a smaller WRX hood scoop or ditching the scoop all together in favor of a clean, scoop-less RS hood (similar to this) or a vent that takes the place of the scoop (found here). Not only will this help me fly under the radar, but it creates a nice sleeper look in the process. I may even consider a quieter exhaust (just maybe).
So in case you have found yourself in the same boat as me, this is what I am doing to avoid this mess in the future. My advice is to put the parts back and try and stay as inconspicuous as possible. Not so much "fight the man" but rather "avoid the man altogether." Don't get me wrong, I'm not going soft in any way; I'm just taking a more cop-friendly route with future mods. If we can't modify our cars and enjoy them, what are we doing here? I know the mod bug still has me itching. That's why the parts keep coming. Hopefully I can stay away from Johnny Law this time.
I'll keep you posted when everything comes in, and also after I install everything. Till then, I'll be staring at my injectors and fuel pump while saving for the next big expense - IHI VF23 turbo. This is all I have planned for the moment, but we all know how that goes...